New Year’s: Funny Hats to Football

Even though it’s out with the old and in with the new, there are still some traditions to be celebrated on this New Year’s holiday. The television networks are ready to welcome 1997 with a noisemaker of bowl games, parades, specials and marathons.

So, from the countdown in Times Square to the pageantry in Pasadena, here is TV’s lineup of holiday programming.

Specials: The networks offer a host of New Year’s Eve programs, led by “Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve ‘97,” tonight on ABC (Channels 7, 3 and 42) at 11:35 p.m. Clark will be in New York’s Times Square for the 25th straight year to report on the revelry and countdown to midnight.

Gavin MacLeod starts the evening’s celebration by hosting “New Year’s Eve With Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians” on KCET-TV Channel 28 at 8 p.m.

Tia and Tamera Mowry (“Sister, Sister”) and Nikki Cox (“Unhappily Ever After”) reveal New Year’s resolutions on “The WB’s Second Annual New Year’s Eve Jam,” today at 5 p.m. on WGN and at 8 p.m. on WB (Channel 5).

Fox presents “Sinbad’s Dynamite New Year’s Eve,” which will include performances from Las Vegas by Hootie & the Blowfish, the Doobie Brothers and Kool and the Gang, tonight at 11 on Channel 11.

Later, Aretha Franklin, the Brian Setzer Orchestra and Katey Sagal all give musical performances on “Merv Griffin’s New Year’s Eve Special,” 1:05 a.m. on ABC.

On Wednesday, New Year’s Day, Riccardo Muti leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Strauss waltzes on “From Vienna: The New Year’s Celebration 1997,” hosted by Walter Cronkite at 8 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28.

And Bill Maher hosts “Politically Incorrect’s Greatest Hits,” offering clips from four seasons of his free-wheeling Comedy Central talk show, which moves to late-night network TV on Jan. 6, at 10 p.m. on ABC.

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Parades: Rain or shine, “The 108th Tournament of Roses Parade” will grace the streets of Pasadena beginning at 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day. The pageant’s theme is “Life’s Shining Moments” and Olympians Carl Lewis and Shannon Miller are the grand marshals.

The annual march of floats, bands and equestrian units down Colorado Boulevard will be televised live without commercials by KTLA-TV Channel 5, hosted again by Bob Eubanks and Stephanie Edwards. CBS (Channel 2, with Shadoe Stevens and Catherine Bell), NBC (4 and 36, with Al Roker and Giselle Fernandez), ABC (7, 3 and 42) and KMEX (34, with Jessi Losada and Laura Harring) will also broadcast the festivities. KTLA will offer repeats of the parade throughout the day.

At 3 p.m. Wednesday, CBS will carry the “Fiesta Bowl Parade” from Phoenix, with gold medalist Kerri Strug as grand marshal. The event’s theme is “Something Spectacular,” featuring a parachute display by the Air Force’s Wings of Blue.

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Football: The college football season climaxes with the play of the sport’s biggest bowl games today, New Year’s Day and Thursday night.

Today: Stanford meets Michigan State in the Sun Bowl at 11 a.m. on CBS (Channel 2). Army plays Auburn in the Independence Bowl at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN. And Nebraska faces Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl at 4 p.m. on CBS.

New Year’s Day: The first of the day’s six games is the Outback Bowl, matching Alabama against Michigan at 8 a.m. on ESPN. Next is the Gator Bowl with West Virginia playing North Carolina at 9:30 a.m. on NBC (Channels 4 and 36). Northwestern meets Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl at 10 a.m. on ABC (Channels 7, 3 and 42). At 10:30 a.m. on CBS, it’s the Cotton Bowl with BYU facing Kansas State. Ohio State and unbeaten No. 2 Arizona State square off in the Rose Bowl at 1:30 p.m. on ABC. And the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe matches Penn State vs. Texas at 5 p.m. on CBS.

Thursday: Florida tries to avenge its only loss to No. 1 Florida State when the Gators play the Seminoles in the Sugar Bowl at 5 p.m. on ABC.

Marathons: The Sci-Fi channel unlocks the door to another dimension of sight, sound and mind with two days of “The Twilight Zone,” beginning at 3 p.m. today.

AMC saddles up for “New Year’s Day With the Duke,” a festival of John Wayne movies hosted by Wayne’s son, Patrick, and grandson, Anthony, starting at 3 a.m. Wednesday.

The music swings with Dick Clark on VH1’s “Best of American Bandstand Marathon,” Wednesday at 7 a.m.